The creation of a new experiential learning space for students at Lambton College is one step closer to becoming a reality.
This comes thanks to a $1 million donation from Queen's Global, which is one of Lambton's licensed educational partners in the Greater Toronto Area.
The new state-of-the-art lab will occupy 8,000 square-feet of space on the northeast corner of the campus along London Road, where the former Suncor building was located.
President Rob Kardas said it will boast a modern, multi-purpose design that was carefully created to foster entrepreneurship, community integration, and experiential learning.
Students will be provided with real-world problems to solve, preparing them for successful careers and the future of work.
"It's going to be a really dynamic space," said Kardas. "It could be creating a learning community with students from different programs solving a community problem. There could be a specific problem, in agriculture for example, where we have our business students combine with our sustainable agriculture program and they're using that space to collaborate and solve some sort of problem that maybe the community has come forward with. Our applied research students could be in there doing the same thing. There are a number of examples of possible uses. Administrative professionals could combine with accounting students during tax season, that would be a great experiential learning opportunity."
The community will also be able to tap into student resources such as website creation, promotional videos, and social campaigns.
Queen's Global's sponsorship is part of The Lambton College Foundation’s Funding Futures Capital Campaign, which launched in June 2023.
Kardas said the five-year, $45 million campaign aims to enhance the student experience, academic spaces, outdoor recreation, and overall wellbeing.
The recent campus revamp has included things like a new bridge entrance, new research and sports facilities and a planned student residence.
"It's all designed to make our college campus here in Sarnia as competitive as possible for our student body," said Kardas. "We want to offer students all that we can, both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. This is one more project that's going to really line us up well in terms of having really good and current space for students to work in."
President and CEO of Queen’s Global Jennifer Zhang said they were happy to assist with the campaign and enhance the student experience at Lambton College.
"Our contribution to Lambton College was inspired by the impact this new lab will have on both students and the local community," said Zhang. "This new space really does represent our continued collaboration with Lambton and the many ways we've worked together throughout the years to support experiential learning opportunities for students from around the world."
The college is currently finalizing details of the new space, which is expected to open in the spring of 2024.